The Exiled Herald
by Tantris
Summary: A brief vignette about how part of Haven got its name. I have no present plans to continue this, but may return to it in the future. As always, the Velgarth Universe belongs to Mercedes Lackey
1. Chapter 1

The Exiled Herald

 **A short piece on how a well-known part of Haven got its name.**

Erim kissed Rhonda on the lips and prepared to rise. Outside the window, bright moonlight illuminated the trees and buildings in a ghostly light. He could be far away before dawn.

Rhonda wrapped her arms around him. "Don't go." She said. "At least, not yet."

Erim smiled and touched a finger to her lips. "Love, it is best if I and Jola were long out of sight before the day begins. I love you and will never forget you."

"At least let me go with you as far as the city gate." She said.

He sighed. "It is easier this way. If no one sees me go or follows me, the pain is over sooner."

He handed her a small packet of herbs. "Bella says this will help you sleep. When you wake, I will be far away."

Rhonda bit her lip. Tearing the packet open, she tipped it into a cup of water and drank it down. She turned her face to the wall as he dressed. At least, if she had planned correctly, she would have a small piece of him to keep with her.

 _::You have.::_ Kensar said gently in her mind. _::You have conceived.::_

 _::You can tell already?::_ She asked her Companion.

 _::We can.::_ Kensar said. He chuckled in her mind. _::We know our Chosen very well. Your son will be a fine Herald.::_

 _::Son?::_ She did not doubt the Companion. _::You usually don't tell.::_

 _::For you, Chosen, we will make an exception.::_

Rhonda heard the door close behind Erim. She sat up in the bed.

##

Erim tiptoed through the halls of the Herald's wing until he reached his room. Inside, he changed to a set of formal whites. _'Might as well go in style.'_ He thought.

He had packed his saddlebags beforehand. He scooped them from the bed. He took one last wistful look around the room that had been his for the last four years during his short breaks between circuits. "Goodbye." He said to the bare walls and spare furniture.

He opened the door and came face to face with Mauro.

"I thought you might sneak away without saying goodbye." His brother said.

Erim hugged his brother. "I'm sorry, Mauro, but I'm not good at goodbyes."

"You could make an effort for your family." Mauro said.

"I spoke to papa yesterday. He knows, but he won't say anything."

Mauro snorted. "That's the way he is. He loves you too much to speak of it. After mama died, he kept everything inside."

Mauro came into the room. "As for me. Just give me a few sunwidths with my little brother before you go. Leave me with good memories."

Erim gestured at the chair, which Mauro took. Erim sat on the bed.

"I remember the day Jola came for you." Mauro began. "You were in that little corner of the garden where you always hid with your books…."

Erim smiled at the memory. He'd been reading a tale of how Prince Restil had led a force against invaders before ascending to the throne. He had heard a sound on the gravel pathway. He sighed and closed his book, preparing to be called back to his tutor. He remembered how he'd thought the crunching steps sounded odd – like a horse's four beat walk rather than a human stride.

A beautiful white head peeked around the hedge; Erim fell into deep blue eyes.

 _::I am Jola. I Choose you.::_

The reminisces continued for half a candlemark.

"You don't have to do this." Mauro said at last. "Wencit was plotting treason. He attacked you and killed him in self defense."

"He was plotting treason. And he did attack me." Erim said. "But there were no witnesses. All the guards saw when they burst in was my sword through Wencit's heart."

Prince Wencit had been the eldest son of King Amaro. For four generations after King Kordas Valdemar, every first-born son had been Chosen by a Companion. Until Wencit. Instead, Amaro's second son Sadareen had been Chosen and become Heir to the Throne.

Until Amaro's death, Valdemar's law that the King must also be a Herald had never been tested. Sadareen took the throne over Wencit's objections. Outwardly compliant, Wencit nursed his grievance and began seeking support among the more conservative nobles who thought primogeniture to be the will of the Gods.

Wencit miscalculated. He assumed the notoriously conservative Lord Ashkevron would side with him. Lord Ashkevron's conservatism was of the kind that held the law sacrosanct; the fact that Lord Ashkevron thought Wencit an overweening twit was secondary. Lord Ashkevron wrote to Sadareen, warning the King of Wencit's plotting.

Sadareen sent Erim to see Wencit, hoping to prove the story false or, if true, to dissuade Wencit from continuing his plotting. When Erim confronted Wencit, the latter exploded in a fit of rage and attacked Erim with his sword. Erim defended himself. Wencit's swordsmanship was as poor as his judgment. In a few moments, Wencit was dead with Erim's sword in his heart. The guards burst in just in time to see Wencit fall to the floor.

The uproar was immediate. Half the nobles believed Sadareen had sent Erim to murder Wencit – no few of these admired what they thought was Sadareen's ruthlessness. The other half believed Erim, but had their doubts. The Heralds and most of the Healers and Bards sided with Erim.

At the inquiry, Erim gave his story under the Truth Spell. The inquiry vindicated Erim, but the recriminations would not die down.

To buy peace, Erim volunteered to go into exile.

"It's the only way, brother. If I go into exile, it gives Wencit's supporters a morsel of revenge. The Kingdom's peace is more important than a Herald."

"Or the truth?" Mauro looked grimly at Erim.

"Or the truth." Erim said. He rose to his feet. "I have to go."

Mauro stood and gripped his brother in a bear-hug. "I will miss you, little brother." His voice cracked as he spoke.

Erim hugged his brother back. "And I will miss my big brother."

They broke their embrace. Erim was surprised to see tears in his brother's eyes.

Erim blinked his own eyes. He picked up his saddlebags once more. "Goodbye." He left the room.

##

Erim trotted to Companion's stable. _::Coming, love.::_ He said to Jola.

 _::I'm ready to go.::_ She said. Erim raised his eyebrows.

He reached the stable. Jola stood in the aisle, wearing her full formal tack. _::I want to go in style as well.::_ She said.

Stablemaster Nestor stood beside Jola. He held out his hand. "Good luck, lad. Till we meet again."

Erim smiled and shook Nestor's hand. "Till we meet again." They both knew the truth.

Erim mounted and rode down the path to the Palace gate. Silently, the guards swung it open wide to let them through.

As Erim passed under the portcullis, the guard captain called out "Present arms!" As one, the guards drew their swords and saluted.

Erim crossed the Great Square in the moonlight and entered the dark, winding streets. Jola needed no lights as she made her way to the city gate. Her hooves chimed on the cobbles as she trotted down the hill.

The gate loomed before them, pale in the moonlight. It was wide open with the guards standing to either side. Erim turned the corner to pass through and stopped in shock.

Along the road, what looked like every Herald and Companion in Haven lined the sides.

 _::Yes. Every one of them. And all the trainees, too.::_ Jola said.

The Heralds stood beside their Companions. Bards and Healers stood among the Heralds.

"Salute!" The gate captain shouted. Guards, Heralds and most of the Healers and Bards raised their swords.

Sadareen stood at the right of the gate. "You didn't think we were just going to let you ride off without a proper farewell?" The king said.

Nearby, Rhonda grinned. "Mauro delayed you so we could get ready." She said.

"You took a sleep potion." Erim said.

"I gave you a fake potion." Healer Bella said.

Erim blinked back tears. "Goodbye. I love you all."

Jola moved forward, walking between the rows. As they passed, everyone present raised his or her sword high. Every Companion bent a foreleg and bowed gracefully.

Erim stared straight ahead. After they passed the last of the honor guard, Jola swung into a canter. Soon, they disappeared into the forest. The lines stayed in place until even Cordell's prodigious farsight could see them no more.

The next morning, a sign appeared over the gate: "Exile's Gate" No one knew who put it there. Before it faded, Sadareen ordered that the words be chiselled into the stone.


	2. Chapter 2 - Thirteen Years Later

_**Thirteen Years Later**_

Rhonda laughed as Berim plucked the kerchief from the ground while hanging from Kensar's saddle. Her Companion's light canter was faster than the gallop of any horse, but the boy had no fear. He clung to the stallion's side like a burr. Lithely, Berim pulled himself up into the seat. He held the kerchief over his head as Kensar thundered around the ring.

Rhonda cheered her son. His play distracted Rhonda from the sadness of the moment. It allowed her not to think about Thorbyn. The King's Own Herald was dying and the dread of the inevitable moment hung like a cloud over the heart of every Herald. Watching her son play with her Companion gave her some respite.

"He looks like his father at that age." Mauro said. With his brother in exile, Lord Mauro had been a surrogate father to Berim. He and his wife cared for the boy whenever duty took Rhonda away from the Palace. Other nobles might scoff at Mauro for allowing 'the bastard' to play with Mauro's own sons, but Mauro did not care. He loved his brother, banished or not, and did not give a fig whether his brother's son had been born in wedlock. Berim was all Mauro had of Erim.

Rhonda did not take her eyes off her son. The boy sat easily as Kensar bounded over huge fences. "I look at him and remember that night his father left. Kensar said I had a piece of Erim within me. I did not know how true that was."

"I thought Companions only allowed their Chosen to ride them." Mauro said.

"There are other exceptions. Look at Charsal and Sendar with Talidos." The king's Companion regularly allowed the two young princes on his back.

"Talidos doesn't allow them anywhere near the privileges that Kensar gives Berim. They usually have to be content with ordinary horses." Mauro pointed out.

"Berim rides ordinary horses too. And thank you for seeing that he has horses to ride."

Mauro shrugged. "It's the least I can do to honor my brother. And you know that he doesn't ride ordinary horses any time Kensar is in Haven and not carrying you."

Rhonda smiled. "I think Kensar thinks of himself as Berim's father."

 _::More like a ne'er-do-well uncle. Who encourages his nephew's reckless behavior.::_ Kensar injected himself into the conversation. As the Companion spoke, he leapt over three fences with Berim standing on the saddle.

Rhonda laughed and passed Kensar's comment to Mauro, who chuckled.

She looked at Mauro. "Do you know Kensar even mindspeaks with Berim?"

"Another exception!" Mauro said. "When will he be Chosen?"

 _::What makes him think I will allow any of the others to have him?::_ Kensar said.

"Kensar! You are jealous!" Rhonda spoke aloud. Again, she told Berim's blood uncle what her Companion said.

Mauro opened his mouth to reply, but the Death Bell interrupted. Its booming tones rang out over the Palace and Companions' Field. Thorbyn was gone. Rhonda closed her eyes and wept. In the ring, Kensar gracefully slowed to a halt. Berim lowered himself to the saddle and then to the ground.

Though not a Herald, Mauro knew what the Death Bell meant. He knew of the death watch on Thorbyn. "I'm sorry." He said. He hugged Rhonda as if she were truly his sister-in-law. "I suppose you will want to be with the others. You go with Kensar and I'll take care of Berim." The boy and the Companion walked over to where they stood.

"Thank you." Rhonda said. She bent to hug her son.

Hoofbeats sounded on the turf behind her. Rhonda looked around. It was Rolan; the King's Own's Companion looked sad, but at peace. He looked in Rhonda's eyes. _::It is always hard, but now is your time. I Choose you.::_

Rhonda gasped. For the second time in her life, a Companion bound its soul to hers.

 _::But what of Kensar?::_ She asked.

 _::Oh, I'll manage.::_ Kensar sounded smug.

Rhonda looked around at her former Companion. He wasn't looking at her. Instead, his eyes were locked with Berim's. The boy's mouth hung open in surprise, then he beamed with happiness.

Berim hugged Kensar's chest and looked at his mother. "Kensar Chose me!"

 _ **Author's Note: Before you ask. Yes they are.**_

 _ **Also: It was always implied that the Monarch's Own's Companion frequently Chose those who were already Heralds. I always wondered what the former Companions did afterwards.**_


End file.
